Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
JOŽE PLEČNIK, ARCHITECT EXTRAORDINAIRE
Few architects anywhere in the world have had as great an impact on the city of their birth as Jože Plečnik. His
work is eclectic, inspired, unique - and found everywhere in the capital.
Born in Ljubljana in 1872, Plečnik was educated at the College of Arts in Graz and studied under the architect
Otto Wagner in Vienna. From 1911 he spent a decade in Prague teaching and later helping to renovate Prague
Castle.
Plečnik's work in his hometown began in 1921. Almost single-handedly, he transformed the city, adding ele-
ments of classical Greek and Roman architecture with Byzantine, Islamic, ancient Egyptian and folkloric motifs
to its baroque and Secessionist faces. The list of his creations and renovations is endless - from the National &
University Library and the colonnaded Central Market (
Click here
)
to the magnificent cemetery at Žale (
Click
Plečnik
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was also a city planner and designer. Not only did he redesign the banks
of the Ljubljanica River (including Triple Bridge and the monumental lock downstream, entire streets (Zoisova
ulica) and Park Tivoli, but he also set his sights elsewhere: on monumental stairways (Kranj), public buildings
(Kamnik), chapels (Kamnik) and outdoor shrines (Bled). An intensely religious man, Plečnik designed many fur-
nishings and liturgical objects - chalices, candlesticks, lanterns - for churches throughout the land (eg Škofja
Loka's Parish Church of St James
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). One of Plečnik's designs that was never realised was an extravag-
ant parliament, complete with an enormous cone-shaped structure, to be built on Castle Hill after WWII.
Plečnik's eclecticism and individuality alienated him from the mainstream of modern architecture during his
lifetime, and he was relatively unknown (much less appreciated) outside Eastern and Central Europe when he died
in 1957. Today he is hailed as a prophet of post-modernism.
GORNJI TRG
'Upper Square' is the southeastern extension of Stari trg. The five
medieval houses
(
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)
at Nos 7 to 15 have narrow side passages (some with doors) where
rubbish was once deposited so that it could be washed down into the river. An important
building on this elongated square is the
Church of St Florian
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(Cerkev Sv Florijana). It was built in 1672 and dedicated to the patron saint of fires after a
serious blaze destroyed much of the Old Town. Plečnik renovated it in 1934.
The footpath
Ulica na Grad
, leading up from the church, is an easy way to reach the
castle.
PUBLIC GARDEN
Botanical Garden
(Botanični Vrt; 427 12 80;
www.botanicni-vrt.si
;
Ižanska cesta 15; 7am-8pm Jul &
Aug, 7am-7pm Apr-Jun, Sep & Oct, 7am-5pm Nov-Mar)
About 800m southeast of the Old
